One of many Make A Wish visits
by Beyond The Mat
Summary: Cody Rhodes visits the sickest children, and Chris Masters tags along. It's a rewarding experience for both as they make the kids happy and strike up a friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Cody had been feeling better than he had in recent weeks. Still adjusting to the move to Smackdown, and his NXT rookie, he found himself in a bit of a slump, being a bit more grouchy. However, he was glad he'd accepted his 'Make-A-Wish' off, something he originally was not going to do. After seeing how much of a difference he made in these kids lives, in just a few minutes, was completely mind-blowing for him. He'd signed shirts and autographs, and taken pictures with kids from a local hospital, and he was more than pleased with the results. He even considered a face turn, short lived, thinking to himself when he noticed someone else from the roster there with him. "Can't believe how much fun this turned out to be." He said to them, walking over to where they were.

"Says you," Chris Masters smirked. He didn't have Make-A-Wish duty. Instead, he was sent to be the "goodwill ambassador" or something to a bunch of "at-risk" kids. Kids who called him a homo, who said that when he wore his wrestling tights, it "looks like you have sand in your vagina" (!), as well as asking, "So, is your finisher a happy ending...a Master Bate?" Those kids were at risk for a kick in the ass, he confided in Cody, which was why he left the engagement a little earlier. He'd called MVP to come in and take over, which MVP did and it earned Chris's gratitude. Chris asked Cody, "Who have I pissed off lately?" Chris actually would've preferred the dying over the bunch of punks.

Cody laughed."Why you go to those that either adore you, or are too young to care." Cody chuckled. "Want to go hang with my group? They're actually tolerable." He offered.

Chris shook his head, "I guess I drew the short straw of assignments or somebody's mad at me," he said. "I didn't pick that one, trust me!"  
He would go hang with Cody's group, "but aren't you done? I know it can be a drain, you taking off or staying?" He wasn't going to ask Cody to hang around if his appearance was done and he was now on free time.

"Nah, its cool. I didn't have anything going on today anyway," Cody shrugged.

"Sure, then, cool. Thanks," he said. He'd never really gotten to hang out with Cody before. They had a mutual friend, although Chris wasn't sure what the status of that friendship was between those two these days...so Chris avoided that topic and decided to talk shop until they got into the room with the kids. "You're doing great on NXT," he confided. "I'm jobbing to Luke Gallows, but I'm not complaining about it. I'm just lucky to have a job," he admitted. Chris had definitely found humility along the way. "And I can not wait until your promo airs," he laughed, thinking of the one he saw Cody cut that would air on Friday, June 25, for the audience at home to see.* "That was awesome. You're drawing great heat." It was also becoming talked about that Cody was doing better than Ted since Legacy broke up, but Chris didn't put that in words either. He wasn't trying to badmouth anyone.

"Thanks man, I guess all that hard work finally paid off. And you'll get yours again, trust me. I thought I was screwed until I was put on NXT. Just a matter of patience. Plus, you got on-screen play with Eve." Cody chuckled, remembering one of Chris's storylines on Raw.

Chris shook his head with a slight smile. There was gratitude in the smile. "Cody, even if I go down in history as the worst performer in the business...I'm little more than a comedian these days...it's okay, because I got back in." There wasn't anybody else who'd been hired back after 2 Wellness Violations. Yes, 1.5 years went by before he'd been rehired, but it also set up "past precedent" in case the likes of Jeff Hardy were to return. Usually it was 2 strikes, you're out. (For some guys, it was 1 strike you're out) Now, though, as a "new hire", he had a clean slate. That was unheard of. "I'm honestly pretty happy these days," he confessed. "I'd rather the young guys like you get yours, and I could definitely see you in the Hall of Fame one day."

Cody grinned, shaking his head. "I don't even like to think about that. Don't get me wrong, I want to make it there, but it just seems like it'll be another thirty years before I do." He chuckled. "And you should bug management, its what I did. If you annoy them enough, they'll stick you with something." He suggested.

"You'll make it and the time will pass pretty quick. Tell me, sometimes when you've actually had a few consecutive days off, you don't feel like OVW was just the other day? I'm not talking a night where you had your ass handed to you in the ring..because those nights feel like 30 years alone," Chris chuckled, but the chuckle faded into a shaking of his head and hands up in a surrender gesture when Cody suggested bugging management. "No...I'm better off flying under the radar. I don't want to be fired again."

"Yeah, sometimes I do. Little odd sometimes, honestly, how fast things move." Cody said, nodding. He then turned to him.  
"...You want me to...suggest you for something? I starting to be somewhat respected by creative, and I could call Orton for you if need be, the guy's helpful as hell." Cody said.

Chris must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a second. "Cody, he's the one who got me my job back. I don't dare ask for more. Honestly, I'm good. Between the hair replacement and the job reinstatement, things are good," he said, making a little light. Randy had stuck his neck on the line for Chris and to ask for a crumb more would make him look like an ingrate. "I'm better off this way. If I was in the running for titles and all again, I might choke, and could jeopardize my marriage." Because choking is what started him on his destructive path the first time. His drugs weren't recreational, they were painkilling and performance enhancing. "I'd like to just help others get over a while, and if I make some people smile, good. Maybe one day after I've earned Mr. McMahon's trust back, then things might be different, but I'm okay. How many chances I've already been given...some guys would kill for just one, you know?"

Cody nodded, and then started to feel a little bad about the offer he gave. He covered himself, going back to his usual content face.  
"Damn, I didn't see it like that." Was all he said.

"Well, that's a good thing you didn't see it like that," he consoled, "because you seem to think I've still got something going for me, that makes me entitled to a spot on the roster. And I appreciate that." He offered a handshake. "I really do. Especially coming from a Runnels." It was obvious Chris not only was respectful of the family but a fan as well.

Cody shook his hand with a smirk."You make me sound like royalty." He chuckled.

"If you think about it, you are. Legacy wasn't all bullshit," he said with a polite shrug, then asked Cody in confidence as to how bad off the kids were. Chris liked to brace himself mentally before going to see the Make-A-Wish kids. While yes, they were dying, some of them looked "less dying" than others. Those were the easier ones to contend with.

"Thanks man, and they're not too hurt. They can talk and commnicate and everything." Cody reassured.

"Thanks," Chris said. He was glad to hear that. "I'd let them heckle me," he said with a slight chuckle as they started heading back.

"They won't, they'll probably climb all over you like a playground. Its what they did to me, and I'm not the most muscular guy around." Cody said.

Chris smiled and thanked Cody for the pep talk, and got ready mentally to go in.

Cody looked through the window in the door, to make ure they wouln't be seeing something they shouldn't, before walking back in. The kids almost instantly started smiling, waving and talking all over again.

Chris chuckled and followed Cody's lead. Since Chris's return to the WWE, he had been a bit more reserved, maybe more cautious, and, rightfully so. After all, he did have a lot to atone for and wasn't going to throw the opportunity away. It's why he didn't mind jobbing, or being a clown, or doing signings that the lowest of the card did at the most remote locations. He knew he had to earn his way back. But dealing with these kids was honorable. He could see how they took to Cody and John Cena and those who had the room in their heart to handle things like this, that it was the best appearance of all because it really meant something to the kids. He let them use him as a jungle gym; he stayed as long as Cody deemed it good, before the staff would start giving them the eye that it was time to go, because the kids did tire easily. He owed Cody for the invitation and told him so later on.

"Guys, you mind showing Chris here your muscles?" Cody smiled. The all flexed, still smiling of course. "That's too funny." He chuckled.

Chris smiled, giving little squeezes to the flexed little arms as well as thumbs up to one and all. The kids did tire easily and it was probably not going to be too wise to stay too much longer, so when they were asked to leave, of course they respected the wish. The first thing he said to Cody, though, when they got out, was "I know we make pretty good money and our jobs are demanding as hell, but the people that work in there should make 10 times what we do."

"They really should. I think that made me want to come back around Christmas time, just to buy presents," Cody admitted with a chuckle.

Chris smiled..but the smile turned sad. "How many of those exact kids would say would be here at Christmas?" He had an idea which involved a Toys R Us run and a half hour. For these kids. They could do a quick run and bring the bag back to give to the staff to give to these exact kids..couldn't they?

"I don't think they would...you know...but they're being treated. And hell yeah, it was one up the street if you want to go get some stuff," Cody suggested.

Chris spent almost the equivalent of a paycheck there. He loaded the cart up with pretty much every bit of WWE merchandise that the store carried, and some girl things and non-wrestling toys for boys, like trucks, too. Just because they were wrestlers didn't mean the whole ward liked wrestling.  
Let the kids have their Christmas today. He wouldn't let Cody put a penny toward it, because Cody was the one who invited him in. Chris was his guest, really, and the least Chris could do was this. They were allowed to take the shopping cart the block back, but the manager did ask they bring it back when they were done.

"I think they've suckered us in without even trying." Cody laughed, pushing the cart back into the hospital.

Security tried to stop them, and this would be one of the infrequent times that anyone saw Chris unruffled and starting to wear thin at the edges.  
(No, not around his hair transplant. His temper). He got agitated when Security started making a point of digging around. What Chris saw, given the guy's build, was maybe a frustrated bodybuilder or maybe even a guy who, when not in uniform, wrestled a few times a week for an indy. Chris could see it in the eyes. And he was also very aware of it given how he and Cody were being singled out. Ok, to be fair, not many WWE guys come in with shopping carts brimming with things from the local toy store but they had just been there, they'd cleared Security earlier and Cody had been there enough times before for them to at least know who they were and why they were there.

Cody was also annoyed, sending the guard a glare before noticing Chris. "Dude, just let it go, he's not even worth it." He muttered.

Chris sighed loudly and bit his tongue several times before saying something that would've gotten them detained longer but it was obvious by the color changes in his face that he was feeling his patience beyond tested. "I know," he answered quietly. "It's just..every minute he does this, that's a minute those kids can't get back." FINALLY they got cleared and Chris couldn't find it to say "thank you" to the guy, because the word "thank" would've come out as "fuck".

Cody only rather harshly brushed past the guy with his shoulder, and gave him another glare before yanking the cart out of his grasp and back on the elevator. "If we ever see him outside this hospital..." Cody trailed off.

"We should see if there's an indy show in the area tonight, I bet he'd be there. Who hates on guys bringing toys to dying kids?" he asked quietly, glad that Cody had stepped up like that. Chris didn't dare. He'd been fired and rehired as a favor. He had to play nice. Cody, though, he was pretty much untouchable right now. The anger lifted, though, when the doors swung open and the kids went wild.

Cody could help but let the anger go when he saw the kids' faces light up from the view of all the boxes. He started unloading the cart, handing off the boxes to them, watching them rip apart the boxes in a matter of seconds. He picked up the loose cardboard and plastic as they thanked him and Chris. "Don't mention it." he said, smiling as he threw the stuff away. "Chris, I think we should be worried. Our kids are going to be spoiled rotten, and have way too many toys for their own good." He joked, watching the children play.


	2. Chapter 2

Chris helped Cody with cleanup detail and had to chuckle as they each had a kid attached to each of their legs. 4 legs, 4 kids, thanking them up and down. "We'll do the garbage stuff. You guys go play," he coerced and agreed with Cody that their kids would in fact be spoiled. "But that's part of what kids are for, I think," he said. And kids like this, well, they should be denied nothing. Chris had no children and a reason for that was that his wife refused to get pregnant. She took any and all precautions, because of what Chris had put into his body along the lines of performance-enhancing drugs and painkillers. While he'd been testing clean regularly, she wasn't going to allow herself to become pregnant for an undetermined period of time, something she had been talking about to her doctor (but not with him, maybe as her way of making sure he stayed clean) so the threat of defective sperm could be minimized.

"You want a big family?" he asked Cody, as a nurse brought over a trash bag.

"As long as whoever I marry is still with me, I wouldn't mind it. I just don't want my kids in a broken home or something." Cody said, putting the trash in a bin that was brought to them by a custodian.

"Totally understandable," he said. "And during our traveling, if they don't come with us, the wives become like single parents during that time...and you know how hard it is sometimes when it's just -us- traveling. Imagine not only being the performer but the dad while on the road? I mean, John Cena can do it..because Owen's old enough. But imagine if Hunter brought Steph and their babies everywhere? I don't know how he could function." They easily filled that garbage can and he took a minute to look at the kids. There wasn't a frown in the place except for the jackass security guy who glanced over from time to time.

"John is lucky for getting custody of Owen at the age he's at, where he can understand all of that. It seems like a big task to handle, but they seem to pull it off. I can hardly handle younger cousins, I don't know what I'd do as a dad." Cody joked.

"I agree," Chris said, and mentally started going over the roster quietly of hypothetically good Dads and Dads who suck. They didn't even have to have children to enter this hypothetical discussion, and it was pretty amusing to see who thought what. The RAW roster got busted out first. Chris rattled three off to start. "Jericho, Sheamus, Great Khali?"'

"I know Jericho had kids, and they're funny, but Khali and Sheamus?" Cody asked.

Chris laughed. "No, no...Khali doesn't, not that I know of. They'd probably be taller than us when they went to Kindergarten..and Sheamus doesn't, not that I've seen or heard about. I just wonder what you think they'd be like as Dads." His guess was that Khali would never have to raise his voice to any potential kid, that the look would go a long way, and hopefully that would be enough because Chris doubted Khali's future/possible kids would understand what the hell he was saying. Sheamus would probably be a cool Dad, Chris guessed. Sheamus was really a decent guy backstage, who'd earned his way as of late...sure, there was resentment from some of the guys of how quickly Sheamus had been pushed, but he'd grown into being Champ. He was catching on with the crowds and was becoming a draw. Who knew? Jericho's kids were cool but Chris confided to Cody that he thinks most of that had to do with Jericho's wife, "because if he's not on the road with us, he's promoting Fozzy or performing with Fozzy and now doing that game show. I don't know when the hell he sees them, you know?"

"You're right." Cody said, tapping his chin. "Khali would just be...damn, I don't even know. The thought of him getting someone pregnant and not killing them is scary, and the kid would be ten feet tall before it could walk." He chuckled. "I think Sheamus would be a cool dad, assuming the let the kid tan during the summer." He joked.

"Like in the first Alien, when the thing pops out of the guy's chest!" Chris said, animatedly, using his hand to simulate where the thing popped out. "That's how Khali's kid would be born!" And he just started laughing hearing the Sheamus parenting recommendation. "Wear yer sunblock, little fella," he said, picturing the scene.

Cody laughed. "We should stop, before we jinx our own kids or something." He said, trying to keep the laughter to a small chuckle.

"True. Although I don't know what's more disturbing..thinking of Khali as somebody's dad, or as a cop. He was a cop in India before he came over here. Imagine that pulling you over?" Chris couldn't help chuckling. He asked Cody if he knew the story of Chris and Randy getting pulled over by the cops, guns drawn.

"Told Randy cops didn't like him, but nah, never heard the story before," Cody said with interest.

Chris chuckled. It sounded worse than it had been. He and Randy technically hadn't done anything _wrong_ wrong, they were just inattentive and ended up looking down the barrels of police guns. "You know when you're riding with him, and get into conversations and just don't realize what the hell's going on around you?" Generally, in Chris's experience, those conversations happened either after matches when everybody's exhausted or on long, boring stretches of road in the middle of nowhere. "Well...it's better to have somebody else driving than him. Maybe you've had that happen. Have a third guy is my best advice I give anybody no matter who they ride with," he said, shaking his head with a smile. "We just got caught up in talking, I doubt either of us could even tell you what about. I know I sure as hell don't remember. But there we are, bullshitting, and we hear the screech of tires ahead. Cop cruiser cut us off and just stopped. Dead stop. Now, Randy hits the brakes. I thought I'd end up kissing the windshield, and how we didn't collide, I don't know. Maybe 4 inches separated our rental and the police car..thank God for anti-lock brakes. Anyway...we're both shook up, you know how near-accidents make your heart go in your mouth? Then it got worse. They're out of the car, now we're surrounded, Cody! "Get out of the car! Get on the ground!" I was scared shitless. Come to find out the cop had his lights on and was trying to pull us over for 2 miles...we ended up leading them on a chase and not even knowing it," he laughed. "All over a taillight out. We didn't get arrested or anything, not even ticketed after we signed some autographs and they saw we weren't drunk or anything, but that's a night I'd rather never repeat." He smirked as he was pretty sure that the security jerk was trying to eavesdrop, given how he'd sort of inched closer to Cody and Chris.

"Wow, that's sounds like something that would happen with Orton," Cody laughed. "You two had to be tired, must have been a long show that night." He said, noticing the security guard, and Chris's moving over. He didn't want to say anything, not in front of the kids, but would definitely tell a manager. Wait...did hospital have managers? "Chris, do hospitals have managers? Think I want to refer an idea to someone in power." He said, shooting his eyes over to the security guard for a second to let Chris know what he was talking about.

"I think places like this, like the building itself, has a board of directors or something..but that's the building. I guess the people each have supervisors? Like shift supervisor, head nurse, stuff like that?" It was a good question, and Chris followed Cody's line of sight. He didn't know exactly what Cody was thinking but bet it would be good.

"Well, maybe the board of security need to chat with one of their members." Cody muttered, before joining the children down on the floor.

"Maybe," Chris agreed with a nod, before following Cody to hang with the kids and forget, for a little while, that jackasses like the security guy even exist.

Cody hadn't been forced to play with action figures in a while, since going home and visiting the younger ones in his own family, and he had to say he could see himself doing this in say...another five to seven years. He loved his friends like brothers and sisters, but going wasn't his thing, at least not to go out all the time. He even forgot about the asshole of a security guard watching them, fully into his new character, a dinosaur.

Chris had been led away by one of the little girls to play Barbies. Now, normally, Chris would probably have been very confused for such a request to have been made of him, but he was very much into it, too. Before they knew it, though, the nurses started making their subtle signals that the kids needed to rest because they'd have their meals (for those who weren't fed intravenously) in a half hour. Chris glanced at Cody.

Cody nodded, and felt a little guilty for taking so much of the children's time. He didn't exactly know their schedule, and he probably stuck around for as long as he did. He nodded towards the door and stood, thanking the nurses and the kids for their time.

Chris saw the guilt on Cody's face. Even though he and Cody hadn't hung out together all that long, Cody possessed very expressive eyes that gave things away sometimes. Chris was also exceptional at reading people. The kids came to both of them to say goodbye and that included Chris getting on the floor and hugging whoever wanted one, before getting up and leaving with Cody. He didn't give the security guy the satisfaction of looking at him on the way out, and said to Cody, "If we didn't stay as long as we had, what would they have been doing. Watching TV? I didn't see anyone else visiting while we were there, and the nurses would've chased us out sooner if the kids weren't having a good time. If this wasn't a positive impact for them. I thank you for this...and maybe we should just let what the guard did go, so we don't have to remember him as part of today. If we run into him on our own time away from the kids, that's on us and we could do whatever we wanted to. If you want to report him, I'll report him too, but I'd rather take a chance on running into him on our time..and his time..not the kids' time."

Cody nodded. "To be honest, I had forgot about that while I was playing with them. And I guess you're right, its probably me being pessimistic again."

Chris doubted it was pessimism. "You're being realistic." Optimism was overrated. Some people took it too far. Some thought that some of those kids would "recover" when the truth was that this wasn't just little childhood ailments. They were stricken with fatal illnesses. The children in that ward were basically condemned to death. There wasn't any parole. So Cody wasn't pessimistic in any sense, as far as Chris was concerned.

Cody nodded. To be honest, he hated kids suffering like that more than anything, it was something he had a weak spot for. "I enjoyed myself, it was cool having someone else from Smackdown around. Glad I found you earlier." He said, changing the subject. He didn't want to think too much about it.

"I'm glad you did, too. Take me with you again sometime, if you want. I'm free." The subject was easily changeable now. For as good as the visit was, it was emotionally draining and there were other things they could talk about. But it was a good experience.

"I'll be sure to. I should probably get over to the gym before it gets too late, I completely forgot I was planning on a work out." Cody said, nodding, before heading back to the parking garage. He was happy to have find someone worth talking to on Smackdown, so far he was keeping to himself, and catching up with everyone else on Raw on his off days. He'd be sure to come do this again at other hospitals.


End file.
